Welcome to Episode 135 of Speculate! The Podcast for Writers, Readers and Fans. In this episode we continue our triptych of shows on the work of Ken Liu, focusing on his novel The Grace of Kings. During the course of our chat Ken talks about the books and films which influenced the novel, the nature of story telling in Chinese culture and its impact on the novel’s structure, the role of the gods, and the ways women are represented in the work (and the reasons for all of the above). This was a really interesting and wide-ranging discussion, and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. If you like what you hear, don’t forget to check back next week for our final show of the triptych as we look at some of the writing techniques used in the novel. And remember, both our writing technique shows and the Good, Bad and Ugly segments (a new one of which Ken recorded for us) are only available to our Patreon supporters, so please head over there to hear more about Ken and his work. Thanks to all who have supported us, and thanks as always for listening to and spreading the word about the show!

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